Sunriver Resort Lodge Betty Gray Gallery joins the Traditions celebration featuring oil landscapes by Janice Druian in the lower gallery and acrylic fantasy images by Susan Busik in the upper gallery. The show opens on November 16 and continues through the 2016 New Year celebrations.
In describing her art Janice Druian comments upon the influence of Maynard Dixon, the famed western painter of the last century. An inspiration to the artist, Dixon said, “My work…is not the regulation ‘Wild West’ type of painting. I aim rather to interpret the vastness…loneliness and sense of freedom this country inspires.”
Durian’s admiration of Dixon and his artwork reflects her lineage as her roots go deep in the West. Her family came across on the Oregon Trail, ultimately settling in California in 1852. It is this enduring connection with the West that inspires her dramatic oil landscapes which capture the beauty and grandeur of Oregon’s high desert solitude. She notes also that travel to remote Steens Mountain, the Alvord Desert and, Hart Mountain, provides further stimulus.
The current body of work on small canvases focuses on the light found in many of these remote parts of Oregon. The viewer witnesses the sometimes-opalescent mountains, vermillion cliffs and dramatic sunsets and sunrises that encompass the palette of the color spectrum.
Druian took a masters in art education at University of Oregon under noted artists Laverne Krause and Frank Okada with continued studies including a concentration on Plein Air. Her art appeared at the ninth Annual Plein Air Invitational in Borrego Springs, the Yosemite Renaissance XV at the Museum at Yosemite National Park, and at the ’14 & ’15 invitational Cowgirl Up: the Other Half of the West at the Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona.
Showing in the upper Betty Gray Gallery is Susan Busik who grew up in Sisters and resides in Bend. Her current acrylic paintings reflect the magic reality of noted Hispanic authors such as Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Her art of over-scale, brightly colored dahlias, poppies, birds and other subjects also features the traditional, intricate designs and patterns of Mexico.
Sunriver Resort invites the public to the exhibition at the lodge, open all hours. Billye Turner organizes the Sunriver Resort Lodge art exhibits with info at 503-780-2828 or billyeturner@bendnet.com